News

Mount nursing students collect supplies for Dominican Republic

More than two dozen nursing students and two faculty will travel
to the Dominican Republic in January on a humanitarian mission, to
serve in the poorest communities -- the bateyes, or
shantytowns.

The Mount Saint Mary College group will volunteer with the
not-for-profit Foundation for Peace, dedicated to helping people in
materially impoverished areas of the Dominican Republic, Haiti,
Jamaica, and Kenya by providing educational support, healthcare
access, economic opportunity, and hope.

Last year, nursing professor Dianne Murphy traveled with members
of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing to San
Pedro de Marcois, Dominican Republic, where she helped bring in
medical supplies, set up clinics, and provided nursing care in the
bateyes.

Donations of supplies are sought for the Mount group’s volunteer
work. Murphy says the “wish list” includes soap, toothbrushes,
toothpaste, bandages, children and adult Tylenol and Advil,
children and adult vitamins.

Donations may be dropped off until December 23 at the nursing
department office in Aquinas Hall, room 210, weekdays from 8 am to
4 pm. Call 845-569-3127 for information.

Monetary donations will also be accepted, to purchase medicines
such as anti-fungals, parasite medications, and antibiotics.
Checks, made out to Foundation for Peace, can be mailed to Dr.
Dianne Murphy, Mount Saint Mary College, 330 Powell Avenue,
Newburgh, NY, 12550.

Mount Saint Mary College offers the only four year nursing
degree program in New York’s mid Hudson Valley and boasts a
NCLEX-RN passage rate in the high 90s to 100.

Students in this highly competitive nursing program hone skills
working with computerized patient simulators in state of the art
labs, and also in clinical experience in the field, as they pursue
their bachelor’s or master’s degree in nursing.

Mount alumni have been recognized in many areas. Margaret
Armento-McDowell received the Nurse Administrator of the Year award
from the New York State Nurses Association. Margaret Deyo-Allers,
of St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh, NY, was named the
Hudson Valley’s Top Nurse.

The Mount is accredited by the Middle States Association of
Colleges and Schools, plus specialized accrediting commissions such
as the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and the
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education
(NCATE).